1% in America are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany
dignin
Posts: 9,336
This is pretty rich, but I think highlights the possibility of a coming battle between the super rich and the rest of us.
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/25/wealthy_venture_capitalist_tom_perkins_says_the_1_in_america_are_treated_like_jews_in_nazi_germany/
Wealthy venture capitalist Tom Perkins says the 1% in America are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany
In a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal, Perkins warns of a "progressive Kristallnacht"
Thomas Perkins is a hyper-wealthy venture capitalist. Beyond his enormous success in business, he may be best known as the man who was profiled by “60 Minutes” for owning The Maltese Falcon, one of the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world (he’s since sold it). He’s the former husband of Danielle Steel, one of the most successful authors ever, and he owns many mansions all over the world. All in all, it’s pretty good to be Tom Perkins.
Or so you would think! Yet according to a letter to the editor he wrote to the Wall Street Journal, the reality of being Tom Perkins isn’t so much defined by extravagant wealth, luxury, comfort, and power, but rather a growing sense of fear and dread. It’s so bad, Perkins says, that being a member of the American 1% today is actually comparable to being a Jew in Nazi Germany.
Seriously. He wrote this.
Here’s Perkins’ letter, in full:
Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.”
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these “techno geeks” can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a “snob” despite the millions she has spent on our city’s homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?
For those who don’t already know: Kristallnacht was a giant anti-Semitic riot, organized by the Nazi government, that left nearly 100 Jews in Germany and Austria murdered and resulted in the incarceration of some tens of thousands more in concentration camps. It was an act of coordinated barbarism done in service of the Nazis’ ultimate goal, the expulsion (and, later, elimination) of Europe’s Jewish population.
American progressives, on the other hand, would like to see Tom Perkins pay more in taxes.
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/25/wealthy_venture_capitalist_tom_perkins_says_the_1_in_america_are_treated_like_jews_in_nazi_germany/
Wealthy venture capitalist Tom Perkins says the 1% in America are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany
In a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal, Perkins warns of a "progressive Kristallnacht"
Thomas Perkins is a hyper-wealthy venture capitalist. Beyond his enormous success in business, he may be best known as the man who was profiled by “60 Minutes” for owning The Maltese Falcon, one of the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world (he’s since sold it). He’s the former husband of Danielle Steel, one of the most successful authors ever, and he owns many mansions all over the world. All in all, it’s pretty good to be Tom Perkins.
Or so you would think! Yet according to a letter to the editor he wrote to the Wall Street Journal, the reality of being Tom Perkins isn’t so much defined by extravagant wealth, luxury, comfort, and power, but rather a growing sense of fear and dread. It’s so bad, Perkins says, that being a member of the American 1% today is actually comparable to being a Jew in Nazi Germany.
Seriously. He wrote this.
Here’s Perkins’ letter, in full:
Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.”
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these “techno geeks” can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a “snob” despite the millions she has spent on our city’s homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?
For those who don’t already know: Kristallnacht was a giant anti-Semitic riot, organized by the Nazi government, that left nearly 100 Jews in Germany and Austria murdered and resulted in the incarceration of some tens of thousands more in concentration camps. It was an act of coordinated barbarism done in service of the Nazis’ ultimate goal, the expulsion (and, later, elimination) of Europe’s Jewish population.
American progressives, on the other hand, would like to see Tom Perkins pay more in taxes.
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Comments
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
So when we're complaining about the 1% we really are complaining about ourselves.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Godfather.
i guess it's true. mo money, mo problems...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Or were they???!!!
At some point in time... is it unfathomable to think that the minions might take to pulling rich people out of their homes once the middle class is extinguished and countless dwell near the poverty line with limited access to very few resources? It has been done before: various successful civilizations have collapsed from decadence and corruption.
Perkins won't live to see it so he shouldn't concern himself too much. His great (or great great) grandchildren might have a reason to be concerned though.
suck it up and quit bitching.
i suppose it could be worse, i mean they could actually be forced to pay taxes or something.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Sort of a reverse Horacio Alger story. Good one, gimme!
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Being asked to pay more in taxes or.... getting herded into a cattle car and shipped to a camp to starve then being gassed in the chambers of Auschwitz and dumped into a mass grave.
...
Yeah... i sort of see the similarities.
Hail, Hail!!!
http://www.upworthy.com/this-guy-needs-a-clue-a-member-of-the-1-declares-it-great-that-35-billion-are-in-poverty?c=cd1
Hey! You scratched my anchor!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cGD-tUsySPs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcGD-tUsySPsYeah, but he shoulda known that the solid gold anchors scratch easily... Duh.
...
i think the real travesty is he had to get his daughter the Mercedes SL500... with the STOCK WHEELS!!!... for her sixteenth birthday!!! Horrible parenting... he should go to prison for Child Abuse.
Hail, Hail!!!
The majority of the uber rich have come by their fortunes by birth or marriage. Sadly, they have no authentic context to place their great fortune into perspective. In reality, the mockery you speak of is not that far removed from the household stress they might experience.
As much as I envy their box seats and awesome vacations... I'm not sure I would trade my life for theirs for any cost. And I say this not so much that I think their life isn't wonderful... I say this because I'm happy with my life (family, friends, and lifestyle).
If you never experience a bad time... you'd never know what a good time is.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
You don't think really rich people should be demanded to pay their fair share of taxes?
We also fund a ton more than infrastructure, education and health....like a more than decade-long military operations.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
If you are going to get caught up on symantics, rather than context, then I'll change the comment to this:
Hmmmmm... let's see....
Being suggested to pay more in taxes or.... getting herded into a cattle car and shipped to a camp to starve then being gassed in the chambers of Auschwitz and dumped into a mass grave.
...
Yeah... i sort of see the similarities....
There. Happy?
Hail, Hail!!!
Do I really need to reference a few tax breaks that benefit the 'rich' to illustrate what I meant by 'fair share'? I'm pretty sure you do understand the point- I think you are just being antagonistic.